Nepalese journalist defiant after razor slashing

Tika Bista heard the word “journalist” for the first time while she was still at school in Rukum, in western Nepal. She saw journalists from Kathmandu taking pictures on their way to the village. It was love at first sight. She entered the world of journalism and began her career five years ago. Then last month, the love affair became severely corrupted: Somebody attempted to murder her.

Until December 8, 2009, Bista, 22, was not a
well-known name in the Nepalese media, though she was a prolific writer. Her
life-threatening incident expanded her reputation across the global media community.
It is a pity that a journalist of her caliber has to be known for a deadly
attack rather than for her work.

Bista, a reporter forthe Kathmandu-based Rajdhani daily, was mercilessly slashed
with razor blades by masked individuals before being thrown into the forest in a
far-flung district of Nepal, she said. She was airlifted to Kathmandu
for treatment after journalists and police found her unconscious. Her condition
was critical. She had blood clots in her skull and injuries in her spine, her
left shoulder, the fingers of her right hand, and in her left foot. She has
recovered well, but still needs a couple of months for a complete recovery. The
doctors have suggested she undergo physiotherapy sessions and psychological
counseling.

Bista was attacked for an article she wrote for Jantidhara,
a local newspaper in Musikot of Rukim. She wrote in defense of Tirtha Gautam, a
Constituent Assembly (CA) member from her town.

On October 27, 2009, Minister for Information
and Communication Shankar Pokhrel visited Rukum to inaugurate an FM radio station.
Cadres of the largest party in the legislative parliament, the Unified
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), showed a black flag to the minister as a
part of a protest against the government—a black flag is a common symbol of
protest in Nepal. Gautam was accompanying the minister when the Maoists accused her of having
illicit relations with the minister. Yadu, Gautam’s husband, was murdered by
the Maoists while he was a candidate for the 1999 general election. Gautam won
the election as his widow.

Bista wrote an article about the allegation with
title: "Why do the Maoists need Tirtha's Sindoor?" Sindoor is
the vermillion powder married women wear on their foreheads. Widows do not
wear the mark. In her article defending Gautam, Bista also raised spoke against
the Maoists’ bloody politics and pleaded for a peaceful resolution.

After article’s publication, Bista started
getting threats from unknown numbers. "Why you need to bother about
Tirtha's sindoor?" she recalled
the voice saying. "Aren’t you bothered about your own sindoor?"

Bista is unmarried and lives with her mother,
brother, and sister-in-law. She is also a college student, studying education.
The day of the attack, she was told in an anonymous phone call that her
sister-in-law had been admitted to the hospital. She rushed to the hospital,
but she was attacked on her way.

Since the hospital discharged her, she has been
taking shelter at various houses in Kathmandu.
She briefly lived with a journalist and then in apartment rented by CA member
Tirtha Gautam. I met her in that apartment, where she was trying to warm
herself with the winter sun peeping through the window.

Now she is healing but the Maoists have started
playing dirty politics, which, she told me, hurts her more. On December 27, CA
members Lokendra Bista Magar, representing the Maoists, claimed that Bista had attempted
suicide. An investigation commission formed by the Maoists reported the same
conclusion.

“I am strong enough to carry on with my job,” she
told me. “I feel more bound to my duty as there are expectations for more work
from me, But I worry how people are going to take such false claims.”

The government is sympathetic to Bista. Prime
Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal
and various ministers and politicians have visited her and made commitments to
punish the culprits. (When I visited her in the hospital, Defense Minister
Bidya Devi Bhandari came to see her.) On December 24, 2009, the government
decided in a cabinet meeting to give Bista 300,000 Nepalese rupees (approximately
US$4,200). She recently told me she has not yet received that money.

The attack rang an alarm bell to the entire
world that Nepal
is not safe for journalists, despite the country’s achievement of democracy. The
constitution guarantees press freedom as a fundamental right. However,
political parties still use barbaric methods to counter journalists.

An investigation by the Federation of Nepali Journalists
indicated that Maoists were behind the attack. Recently, Information and
Communications Minister Shankar Pokhrel said that the attack on Bista was not
criminal, adding that when a powerful political party is involved, the state is
incapable of doing anything. The federation said that local police can easily arrest
the culprits if the political parties are supportive.

Despite all this, Bista has kept her
morale high. “The attack and aftermath have given me more responsibility,” she told
me. She said her new life would be that of a crusader’s for a free press. “I
have not committed any mistake, so the journalistic fraternity is with me. I
have won this war!”

Guna Raj
Luitel is an associate editor for the daily Nagarik in Nepal.
He's been based in Kathmandu as journalist for
more than two decades.